As Grandmother Taught: Women, Tradition and Plateau Art was a special exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington. The exhibit featured several Plateau cradleboards. The Indian nations of the Columbia River Plateau are shown above. Cradleboards allowed infants to be carried easily and safely. They also allowed the mother’s hands … Continued
One of the displays in the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California, is entitled Sacred Earth and subtitled Understanding our past and honoring cultures that thrive today. One section of this display looks at some of the technological changes from 8,000 years ago until 3,000 years ago and from 3,000 years ago until 1,000 … Continued
Under the Constitution, Indian tribes are considered to be nations and thus all dealings with the tribes were to be conducted by the federal government, not the states. Administratively, the relationships between the United States and the various Indian nations should have been a foreign policy matter. However, from the very beginning Indian affairs were … Continued
By 1719, many Indian nations had had direct or indirect contact with the European invaders from Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands. Direct contact had initially come through the European explorers, traders, and missionaries. European manufactured trade goods and horses could be found among tribes who had had no direct contact with the Europeans. Along … Continued
The Artic Culture Area includes the Aleutian Islands, most of the Alaska Coast, the Canadian Artic, and parts of Greenland. It is an area which can be described as a “cold” desert. Geographer W. Gillies Ross, in his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 3: A Continent Comprehended, writes: “The North American Arctic is usually … Continued
Following the Civil War, the United States had a large, experienced army that could turn its attention to the “pacification” of the Indian nations in the West. At the same time, the United States was opening up vast tracts of land for non-Indian settlement, thus increasing tensions and violence between the Indians who saw the … Continued
The Plateau Culture Area is the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north to the Blue Mountains in the south. Much of the area is classified as semi-arid. Part of it … Continued
With the relatively warm climate of Southern California, the Native Americans in area did not need clothing for warmth and nudity was common. Frequently, children wore no clothing until they were about ten years old. Women often wore a short skirt made of plant fiber and went naked above the waist. With regard to footwear, … Continued
The county and city of Pawnee, Oklahoma are home to the Pawnee (Chahiksichahiks) tribe. Over the course of the 19th century, the tribe declined in numbers from over 10,000 to approximately 4,000 people living on lands along the North Platte river in Nebraska and Kansas. By the 1870s, despite a long history of military service … Continued
The Inuit are a Native American people whose homelands are in the Canadian Arctic. A special exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, featured The Inuit Art of Povungnituk. Povungnituk is a village on the eastern shores of Hudson Bay in Arctic Quebec. This artwork provides some insights into the … Continued
